What is God's

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

WHAT IS GOD’S

Mark 12:13-17

13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it."  16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. 17 Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.

NIV

There does not seem to be any question that the coin has the stamp of the ruler on it and therefore it belongs to the government of the ruler who stamped the coin. This would be clear that we should in fact pay or honor and obedience to the law of the land, as well we have been told to in other portions of the scriptures. But what is the most striking words which Jesus spoke to them was about giving what to God what us God’s. Although the coin had the stamp of Caesar, the human soul has the stamp of God on it. The Pharisees and Herodians both had the knowledge of the writings of Moses, especially the part about God making man in his own image. So they may well have understood that the coin stamped with the image of Caesar belonged to Caesar, they being human made in the image of God, had in fact God’s image stamped on them and therefore they belonged to God. Therefore it was they rightful duty to pay to Caesar his coins but that also meant they should rightfully pay God with themselves. Certainly the Pharisees appeared outwardly to belong to God, but the Herodians may not as they were those who had adopted some of the philosophies of Herod the Great who had died some thirty years before the time of Christ. They mixed the faith in God with the faith of the world, a blended mixture of more than one God. Still they may have understood God as the Divine creator making them in his image, and so they would have to see how wrong their lives had turned. It is any wonder the Pharisees and Herodians were amazed. They tried to trap him and he trapped them instead. God’s wisdom will always trump man’s wisdom.  We cannot serve both Caesar and God. True we should pay attention to the law of the land, but not make the land, or the law, or the ruler of that law our god. We are made in his image, stamped with his image within us and thus we must do what is the right thing to do and give God what is his, us. As we cannot split up the coin giving just a portion of it to Caesar, we cannot split ourselves up, giving just a portion of our being to God. We must give him all of us, every last bit of us, and the whole of us, holding nothing back for Caesar or for our own selves.